DODGERS: Joc Pederson sits atop 'Three True Outcomes' throne

Going into Friday's games, Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson ranked among the major league leaders in walks (24, third), strikeouts (37, tied for seventh) and home runs (9, tied for sixth), meaning a whopping 63 percent of his plate appearances had ended in one of the “Three True Outcomes.”

DENVER – The young prince of “Three True Outcomes” has no idea what you’re talking about.

“I have no idea what that is,” Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson said of the phrase. “I’ve never heard that before.”

The phrase (occasionally abbreviated as TTO) refers to the three outcomes of the pitcher-batter confrontation that do not involve the participation of any fielder – a walk, strikeout or home run. Sabermetricians and those analytically minded believe TTOs take out the vagaries of defense and luck that can affect the result of a ball put in play. TTOs are used in the formulas that produce some more sophisticated statistics such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP).

Mark McGwire had one of the highest TTO seasons in history. During his 70-homer season in 1998, 56.9percent of McGwire’s at-bats ended in either a walk, strikeout or home run. But the Dodgers hitting coach also says he is not familiar with the term.

“That’s a sabermetric thing?” McGwire said.

Going into Friday’s games, Pederson ranked among the major league leaders in walks (24, third), strikeouts (37, tied for seventh) and home runs (9, tied for sixth), meaning a whopping 63 percent of his plate appearances had ended in one of the “Three True Outcomes.”

McGwire might not be familiar with the TTO terminology. But he acknowledged that he has had “talks” with Pederson about his strikeouts and the disappearance of base hits from his game over a recent stretch. Before his ninth-inning single in Milwaukee on Thursday, Pederson had gone 39 plate appearances during which his only hits were home runs – albeit seven of them.

“The potential that he has is off the charts,” McGwire said. “The strikeouts, I’m not worried about – as long as he’s walking. If he does 100 and 100 (strikeouts and walks), I’m OK with it. The potential of 30 and 100 (home runs and RBI) is right there. The potential of hitting .300 is right there. But that comes with knowledge of what pitchers are doing and he’s still learning.

“He has a very good photogenic memory after facing somebody. Now it’s all about corralling it and when you start seeing somebody a third, fourth, fifth time, really setting up the pitcher for what you can do. Right now, he’s in the learning mode and he’s doing quite well. I just think it’s going to get better and better and better.”

Pederson’s walk rate is in fact the best in the majors. Through Thursday, he had walked on 21.2 percent of his plate appearances. That would be the highest rate in baseball since Barry Bonds retired in 2007.

And the strikeouts are something McGwire can easily live with as long as the walk rate stays high.

“As long as he’s not getting himself out, as long as the pitcher has to earn striking him out,” McGwire said. “Right now, he has a tendency of striking out where he’s giving the at-bat away instead of making this guy earn it. That being said, there have been a number of strikeouts where he’s gone 3-and-2 and there’s been some (tough) pitches. We’re OK with that. File that.

“Look – can it (his strikeout rate) come down 10 or 15 or 20? To me, it’s not a big deal as long as he’s walking that much. When I talk to him, I tell him I struck out 100 times – but I also walked 100 times. You’re OK. But if you’re striking out over 100 times and you’re only walking 50 times – we’ve got to do something about that. So are the strikeouts going to come down? My sense is probably not. But can the walks keep up? Absolutely.”

PUIG UPDATE

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig continued his minor-league injury-rehabilitation by playing right field for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday night. He hit a home run in his first at-bat, struck out then grounded out in the fifth inning.

Puig left the game after experiencing renewed tightness in his left hamstring while running out a ground out in the fifth inning. He will be re-evaluated in Los Angeles on Saturday but his rehab assignment is on hold for now.

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